


Dead Men Still Lie

by garrisonbabe



Series: The King's Men [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, Benny stabs a dude, Blacksmithing, Cas is freaked out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 12:56:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garrisonbabe/pseuds/garrisonbabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A ghost shows up with a note and Benny feels like the entire kingdom is going to come crumbling down around him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dead Men Still Lie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



Benny plunged hot metal into a trough, steam rising up as the water hissed and boiled around it. He thought back to four years ago, back in his old shop where he'd been left with buckets and his forge hadn't been half the size it was now. The Western wing was definitely a step up. That silver Dean had left for him also bought him out of all sorts of trouble with their queen.

There was a tap at his door and he sighed, always some interruption or another. He picked the blade up and looked at it, the metal was coming along nicely. It was Cas' perfect dagger, the one Benny'd always promised to make but never seemed to have the time for.

Now he'd moved into the castle, into a new shop with better materials and better funding and he was still short on time to do what he wanted. He held the blank in his hand and took two long steps toward the work bench. "C'mon, hurry up I got shit to get done."

The door opened and Benny's chest ached, a sharp pain pulling at his heart as dread crawled through his systems and made his blood feel like slag. "My poor Benjamin, still so impatient after all these years? Then again, maybe working for a king has made you feel entitled."

"Why're you here old man?" No matter how young the person in front of him looked, Benny knew better. Magic had a way of twisting people, his old associate more than most.

"No need to be so hostile, Benny, we were friends once. Family, even." There was a smile pulling back youthful lips, only to reveal cut and sharpened teeth, a mage's ritual. Blood magic.

"We were never family." His grip around the metal in his hand was so tight his muscles trembled, his entire arm shaking.

"No, I suppose not. Family doesn't fuck like we did, does it? Not unless you're royalty, anyway." Thin fingers trailed across a piece of chainmail, much larger that it was in his last shop, though still devoid of any real shape.

"Takin' jabs at Dean ain't gonna get you anywhere." Benny inhaled slowly through his nose, remembering the meditations Cas taught him years ago.

A low chuckle, the bastard always was so amused by everything. "I'm just curious, Benny, your king ended a war just five years ago, didn't he? How ready would he be for another?"

"That a threat?" Every thought in Benny's mind switched tracks, the old man couldn't be allowed to leave the castle. That and he had to tell Dean. Where there was one spy there were always more.

"Nothing so grand, I can assure you. I'm simply here on behalf of some interested parties." Benny remained still, waiting for the intruder to step within range. Being away from home had taught him many things, patience being the most important.

"You obviously been here a while, findin' out where I am. So what d'you think?" A gentle hand was placed on his chest, just over his heart and Benny didn't allow even one word to pass from the old man's mouth. The metal wasn't sharpened, but it still pierced through the soft leather and softer body with ease. Cas would definitely approve.

—

Castiel ran down the steps swiftly, heat billowing out into the hall from the blacksmith's shop. Inias had come to him in a rush, telling him the Lafitte smith had a body and that he needed to speak. Of course this would happen on the day of a banquet. When did anything Castiel planned ever happen correctly?

The door was barred and Castiel sighed, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. Lucky for him that Dean let him wear tan instead of the customary black or he'd probably melt right out of his body.

"Benny, let me in." The slide across the peep hole opened and Castiel looked in expectantly. The door opened and he entered quickly, looking around frantically for the body Inias had reported. All he could see was a puddle of drying blood on the stone floor. "What's this about, there's a banquet today and we can't afford—"

"Cas shut the hell up for five minutes and listen." Anyone else in the kingdom could be killed for such blatant disrespect, but Benny was one of a privileged few that could get away with it. Castiel himself was actually among the group as well, but that was neither here nor there.

The shop was closed down mostly, the forge slowly and uncharacteristically going down to nothing but coals. Whatever it was this body had said when it was still alive, it had shaken Benny deeply. A blade sat off to the side on a work bench, blood dried and flaking on the surface. A closer look showed the shape to be triangular and Castiel had to stifle a smile. Benny was finally making his dagger. If that was the case then the smith was probably just as annoyed as he for the interruption in the day's work.

Calloused fingers fumbled a note into his hand, shaking nervously. Castiel looked at Benny for a moment, taking in the way almost all of him seemed to vibrate with alarm. The paper unfolded easily, but the script wasn't anything Castiel was capable of reading. "Benny, I don't—"

"I know. That's Cajun, that's what I speak. You see down in the fifth line, Y.J.?" The letters stood out in the sentence when he located them. A quick glance up and Benny elaborated. "That's shorthand. My guess from the rest of it is that it stands for  _yeux jaunes_." Benny's voice went quiet, barely more than a whisper. "Yellow eyes."

The paper fell from Castiel's fingers and Benny picked it up quickly, tucking it back into his side pocket. "I can see why you said it was urgent. I'll... I'll tell Dean to meet you in the conference chambers with Sam."

"You got anyone that knows about magic?" Benny went over to a table and pulled a heavy tarp away, the body revealed.

He hefted it up onto one shoulder and Castiel took a second to gather his thoughts and answer the question. "We do, yes, I'll have Inias send for him."

"You'll probably want to have Balthazar's guard keep this place locked down while you're at it, keep people from leavin', especially any other Cajuns." Benny moved toward the door and turned to the right, hitting a switch that moved a false panel in the wall. "I'm gonna guess that you're wantin' me to take the back steps and keep outta sight?"

Castiel nodded. "I'll have Dean and Sam meet you. Tell them nothing until I arrive."

"You got it." Benny moved off into the shadow of the hidden stairwells and Castiel's anxiety mounted.

He grabbed the blade and looked at it. The edges were still a little uneven and underneath the blood he knew the metal wasn't polished, was nowhere near finished. The point wasn't even very fit for stabbing a calf let alone a man in even light armor. How lucky the kingdom was to call Benny their own.

**Author's Note:**

> Another within the same 'verse as A King's Man because when I start a medieval au it takes over my entire life.


End file.
